Notes:The World Organ Donation Day (WODD) is observed every year on August 13 to encourage people to donate their precious organs. Every year, about 5 lakh people die awaiting organ transplants due to non-availability of organs. There is a wide gap between the number of transplants awaited and the organs available. Organ donation is a process where an organ is transferred from the body of the one who is giving the organ (donor) to the one who needs the organ (recipient). The donor can be living or deceased. Organs that can be donated are kidney, lungs, heart, eye, liver, pancreas, cornea, small intestine, skin tissues, bone tissues, heart valves and veins.

2. Who has been appointed CEO of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY)?

Notes:Ashish Kumar Bhutani, a 1992 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, has been appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) till May 9, 2020. The PMFBY is the government sponsored crop insurance scheme that integrates multiple stakeholders on a single platform. It was launched by Prime Narendra Modi on 18th February 2016 in line with ‘One Nation – One Scheme’ theme. It envisages a uniform premium of only 2% to be paid by farmers for Kharif crops, and 1.5% for Rabi crops. The premium for annual commercial and horticultural crops will be 5%. The purpose of PMFBY is to provide insurance coverage and financial support to the farmers in the event of failure of any of the notified crop as a result of natural calamities, pests & diseases. It also aims to encourage farmers to adopt innovative and modern agricultural practices and to stabilize the income of farmers to ensure their continuance in farming.

3. Prasar Bharati has tied up with which technological giant to telecast 2018 Independence Day programme live online?

Notes:Prasar Bharati has tied up with Google and its video sharing platform YouTube to telecast the 72nd Independence Day programme live online on 15th August 2018 to increase digital presence. Prasar Bharati CEO Shashi Shekhar Vempati has stated that the live stream window will be seen on the homepage of Google itself so that people do not have to look for a separate link to go to the Youtube channel. In a first-of-its-kind digital drive, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech from Red Fort will be live streamed on both Google and YouTube. This year, Doordarshan anchors will introduce the programme from Red Fort instead of the studios. Doordarshan will also translate the PM’s speech in over 20 regional languages. The Independence Day coverage will open with a song composed by Shankar Mahadevan. This service was first used by Google to telecast the inauguration ceremony of US President Donald Trump in January 2017.

4. Hakam Singh Bhattal, who passed away recently, had won gold for India during which Asian Games?

Notes:Hakam Singh Bhattal (64), the Asian Games gold medallist athlete & Dhyan Chand awardee, has passed away in Sangrur, Punjab on August 14, 2018. He won gold at the 1978 Bangkok Asiad in 20km race walk. In it, India ranked 6th with 11 gold medals. He also won gold in the Asian Track and Field Meeting held at Tokyo in 1979. He had also served as Havaldar in the 6 Sikh regiment.

5. Which city has been ranked first in the Ease of Living Index 2018, which is released by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs?

Notes:The Ease of Living Index 2018 has been launched by Hardeep Singh Puri, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Housing & Urban Affairs, in New Delhi on August 13. In it, Pune has been ranked first, followed by Navi Mumbai, Greater Mumbai, Triputi, Chandigarh, Thane, Raipur, Indore, Vijaywada and Bhopal. The survey was conducted on 111 cities in the country. The Index is based on four parameters — governance, social institutions, economic and physical infrastructure. Chennai has been ranked 14 and New Delhi 65. The Ease of Living Index is a government initiative to assess cities’ ‘liveability’ with regards to global and national benchmarks and encourage them towards urban planning and management.

6. Which of the following has become the India’s first tribal language to get a Wikipedia edition in its native script?

Notes:Santhali has become the first Indian tribal language to get a Wikipedia edition in its native script. It is a language in the Munda subfamily of Austroasiatic languages & presently has content of about 70,000 words. The Santhali Wikipedia edition received approval from the Wikimedia Foundation’s Language Committee on June 28, 2018 and finally, the Santali Wikipedia site was launched on 2nd August 2018. According to the 2001 census, Santhali is written in Ol Chiki script & is spoken by 6.4 million people in India only. Its speakers live mostly in Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam. The language is also spoken in Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal. As per the Eighth Schedule to the Constitution of India, Santali is a recognized regional language of India. Wikipedia is available in nearly 300 languages globally as of August 2018.

Notes:Rafael Nadal, a Spanish professional tennis player, has clinched the 2018 men’s singles Rogers Cup tennis tournament at the Aviva Centre in Toronto, Canada. In the final, he defeated Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas by 6–2, 7–6 to win his 4th Rogers Cup title. With this win, the 17-time Grand Slam champion Nadal clinched his 80th ATP World Tour title and fifth victory of the year.

8. Which of the following has been declared the cleanest railway station in the A1 category, as per 2018 cleanliness survey for Indian Railways?

Notes:The 2018 cleanliness survey for Indian Railways has been conducted by the Quality Council of India (QCI) i.e. announced by Railway Minister Piyush Goyal in New Delhi on August 13. Among the A-1 category stations, Jodhpur has been declared the cleanest railway station in the A1 category, followed by Jaipur and Tirupati (Andhra Pradesh). In A category stations, Marwar (Rajasthan) has been placed at first position, followed by Phulera (Rajasthan) and Warangal (Telangana). The North Western Railway (NWR), which is headquartered at Jaipur , topped the list in the cleanest zone category, followed by South Central Railway (SCR) and East Coast Railway (ECR). This is the 3rd report of Third Party Audit-cum-Survey of ranking of cleanliness, which covers 407 stations which includes 75 stations in A1 and 332 stations in A category stations. It is an attempt of Indian Railways to increase cleanliness levels and improve hygiene standards by identifying the laggards.

9. Balramji Das Tandon, who passed away recently, was the current Governor of which state?

Notes:Balramji Das Tandon (91), the present Governor of Chhattisgarh, has passed away in Raipur on August 14, 2018. Born on 1st November 1927, he started his political career as corporator of Amritsar Municipal corporation in 1953. Tandon was one of the founder members of the Jansangh which later became the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). During his long political career, he has served on various posts, including as deputy chief minister of Punjab. A six-time MLA, Mr. Tandon was also the Punjab State BJP president for two years. He was also jailed in 1975 during the Emergency for 19 months.

10. Which country has successfully tested its first cutting-edge waverider hypersonic aircraft “Starry Sky-2”?

Notes:On August 5, China has successfully tested its first cutting-edge waverider hypersonic aircraft “Xingkong-2 (or Starry Sky-2)” which could carry nuclear warheads and penetrate any current generation anti-missile defense systems. This type of waverider aircraft uses shock waves generated by its own flight as a lifting surface to enhance the lift-to-drag ratio to reach the hypersonic regime of Mach 5 or even above. It flew independently, made large-angle turning maneuvers, and landed in the targeted area as planned. It travels at least 4 times faster than the speed of sound. The aircraft was designed by the China Academy of Aerospace Aerodynamics (CAAA) in collaboration with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC). Presently, the United States and Russia have been carrying out similar experiments.